Dream an Awesome Dream: The Wisdom of Kung-Fu Panda

I love Kung Fu Panda.  The story is representative of many of our journeys to awesomeness.  And just like our journeys, this story started with a dream. For those not familiar with the story, here’s the Awesomeness Consultant’s  abbreviated version:

                                                   

A panda (Po) working in his father’s noodle shop dreams of becoming a kung fu master, though he is expected to go into the family business (if you watched the movie, the “family” thing is questionable).  Seemingly by accident, he is selected to train to become the “Dragon Warrior” aka the Chosen One.  He is viewed with doubt and treated with contempt by the other kung fu masters because after all he is a panda, and pandas can’t be kung fu masters.  Well wouldn’t you know, by the end of the movie the panda has become a kung fu master, defeated the all-powerful villain, and saved the land.  And in that process he overcomes his perceived limits and not only his own doubts but everyone else’s as well.

As I discuss further the ideas that I’ve found in this movie, you may think “Geez, this guy is taking a cartoon pretty seriously” and you may be correct. I think that this movie (and many just like it) explores mythic themes of becoming what we were meant to be, and the journey to that becoming. And in the language of myth, dreams are a big to-do.  And Po sure dreamed himself a big one. 

And I quote, “he was so deadly in fact that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness…”

In humility, “…there is no charge for awesomeness - or attractiveness”

And ultimately, “even the most heroic heroes in all of China – the Furious Five – bowed in respect to this great master”

And when Po awoke from his dream, his journey to awesomeness began. Now I won’t get into the philosophical metaphysics or anything…but maybe you don’t choose your dreams instead your dreams choose you. And of course it may not be as action-packed or as cinematically choreographed as in Kung Fu Panda, but I think that each one of us has a dream inside of us that came from somewhere special. And that dream can lead us to somewhere special.  So my advice, awake or asleep, is to dream on, dream away, and dream big. 

As your awesomeness consultant, my advice is this: Dream an awesome dream.

So...what are you dreaming about?